How It Used To Be
by lychee loving
Summary: Of all the Xavier geeks, Pietro dislikes Ororo Munroe the least.


_I like to believe Evan and Pietro go way, way back. Not because it makes sense in the canon timeline (though to be fair, we aren't given any hints to say that they don't) but because. It'd be adorable, okay. (hey, I didn't say it'd be a rational reason! Lynch me if you like, but I'd prefer it if you read all the way to the end before you do, thanks!_)

_Also, the word count lies. It's longer; Pietro's speech just makes the number lower._

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><p>Of all the Xavier geeks, Pietro dislikes Ororo Munroe the least. To most of his fellow Brotherhood, she was Storm, that freaky lightning lady, the weather bitch... ahem, witch. To him, she was a reminder of happier times.<p>

He remembers the first time he'd seen her. Evan couldn't wait for school to finish that day - well, he couldn't wait for school to be over every day, but that day the teacher made him stand outside the classroom twice because he couldn't sit still.

"My Auntie O's picking me up today!" he explained, after the last bell rang.

Pietro blinked. "What'sanauntie-oh?"

Little Evan with his bleach-blonde hair (_It's natural!_ his mother would assure the teachers exasperatedly. As if any parent in their right mind would bleach a seven year old's head.) rolled his eyes impatiently. "My Auntie O! She's my momma's sister!"

"Ohhhwell whydidn'tyousayso, idiot?"

Evan punched his arm. Pietro punched back.

Annoyed that Pietro had punched him harder, Evan pulled his fist back to give an even better jab, but thought better of it. He settled for sticking out his tongue at the white haired boy.

Confused, but not wanting to show Evan that he was, Pietro taunted him instead. "Alwaysknewyou hitlikeagirl, Daniels!"

"Shut up! You're lucky my Auntie O's comin'. She don't like me comin' home all dirty an' stuff."

Pietro hit him again, for good measure.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"It was forbeinglame andasissy, that'swhat!" Pietro folded his arms, giving Evan his best I-Am-Most-Displeased look that Father used on him all the time. "What'ssogreat 'boutyour Auntie-Ohhh, anyway?" He let the _Ohhh _drawl out quite a bit, mockingly.

Evan glared and drew his shoulders back - apparently to yell at Pietro - when his eyes lit up at something across the school yard.

Pietro's ears hurt from the resulting yell of "AUNTIE O!" as Evan raced towards the prettiest woman he'd ever seen. She was tall and was the same color as Daniels. But what arrested his attention immediately was her hair.

It was _white_. Just like his own hair, he thought, amazed. Father had white hair too, but it was a different white, he decided. Not like this Auntie O's hair, not like his. Glossy, shiny, whiter than snow.

Besides, he thought, Father was old and old people sometimes had white hair. Evan's Auntie O didn't look old. She was tall, and very pretty. And she didn't dress like a mom, or a teacher. She sort of acted like one, though, with how she crouched down to open her arms to Evan. She braced herself, knowing that his run across the playground let him gain quite a bit of momentum as he jumped into her waiting arms. She barely winced.

Pietro's mood suddenly soured.

"Hello, Evan." Her voice sounded kinda funny, but not in a bad way. Just - kind of different. Like how their old lady caretaker had a different sounding voice since she came straight from Romania, Father said. "How was school today?"

"Okay," he shrugged, drawing back from her embrace. "We talked about leaves and the photosynthingy thing they do."

"Photosynthesis," corrected Pietro, immediately. "That's whatyouget for notlistening totheteacher, Daniels."

Evan's resulting scowl was made worse when Auntie O chuckled softly into her hand. Pietro grinned, deciding he liked that.

"Miss Stevie made him leave the classroom twice today, too," he informed her, shaking his head blithely, taking care to sound out his words clearly, just like Father always reminded him to.

Auntie O quirked one dark eyebrow at her nephew. "Hmmm? Is that right, Evan?"

He squirmed under her gaze. "Wasn't my fault! I was tryin'a tell Janet that you had the coolest hair ever; she wouldn't believe me! Then Misty Knight said girls can't be pretty if they got white hair and I told her she was just jealous 'cause you're the prettiest girl I know (next to momma!)"

Pietro hadn't believed him then either, but he saw it was true now, of course. Except maybe his hair was better, or maybe just as nice. He hadn't decided yet.

Still, Evan's Auntie O was smiling prettily now (Pretty, pretty, pretty... wasn't there any other word for her?) and put a hand on Evan's head. She ruffled his hair fondly.

"Just for that, I think we will stop by that ice cream parlor at 5th and Main on the way home today, Evan."

"Really? Awesome!"

"And what about your little friend here?" She smiled, and turned to Pietro. "Would you like to join us, Mister...?"

Pietro blinked a couple of times before answering, not even hearing Evan's groans of protest. ("What? No! He can't come with us, Auntie O!")

"Pietro. I'm Pietro Maximoff!" What was it Father said, about meeting women? "It'sverynicetomeetyou,Miss!" He remembered Father's words then, his mind not comprehending the thought completely before his body put it into action. His hand shot out, grabbing the older woman's wrist and bringing the back of her hand to his lips for a hasty kiss. He let it go just as quickly.

His pale cheeks flushed a bright pink at her startled look. But then she smiled and her eyes were twinkling with surprised amusement and he felt his cheeks get hotter.

"And I am Evan's Aunt Ororo. It's very nice to meet you as well, young Mr. Maximoff." She inclined her head a little bit, smiling. "Would you like to join us for some ice cream?"

He shifted. On one hand, he rarely ever had ice cream - Father didn't let him eat too much sweets on account of his getting a little too hyper (and he was already a handful and a half when not wired on sugar). But on the other...

... He shook his head. "NothankyouMissOroro," he said, managing to remember his manners. "Igottalook formysister anyway."

On a normal day they'd meet up right after classes and head right on home. Today, though, Wanda had some kind of after-class counseling thing or whatever, which was the only reason he'd let himself get dragged along with Evan Daniels. Which turned out a better idea than he expected, since he was making nice with one of the prettiest ladies he'd ever seen ever, and she was even offering him ice cream!

But Wanda came first, always. So when Evan's Aunt Ororo asked if he was sure, that maybe they could wait for his sister and they could all go - something that he knew Wanda wouldn't like, she wasn't comfortable with strangers - he declined again, the words coming out in a rush.

The older woman just smiled and bade him a goodbye once she and Evan decided to get going.

He'd see her again a few more times, on the rare occasion she would pick Evan up from the school; she'd always wave from afar, sometimes he'd look back with a hesitant grin.

The year after that was the year Wanda's powers started showing up. Things were never the same after that; after Wanda was sent away, he was enrolled in a different school and he wouldn't see either of them for the longest time. That he and Daniels would end up in the same high school was something of an insane coincidence. In fact, he didn't even recognize Evan 'til he caught a glimpse of his white-haired aunt watching from the bleachers, after their first game.

That they were all mutants and their lives would be thrown together so explosively was an even bigger coincidence. It wasn't going to be the same, he knew.

They were enemies, sure, and they were going to bait and beat each other up whenever they'd run into each other in a fight -

but sometimes he'd catch himself taking a second, lingering look - at Storm solicitously helping her nephew up after a fierce fight, at the glossy white hair he'd been so in _awe_ of, a lifetime ago... and he'd remember what innocence used to feel like, when happiness was a simple feeling.

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><p><em>I read somewhere that Wanda was put into the mental health institution when she and Pietro were eight or nine-ish. Which is weird, because don't mutations generally manifest in puberty? I guess Wanda was a special case (maybe that's why she had such trouble controlling her powers, because they came to her so early? IDK.)<em>

_I'm a little surprised at myself though; I think Pietro's a bit of a huge dick in Evo. I'm not sure how/why I ended up writing him the way I did here (I blame Age of Apocalypse, for the most part.)_

_Review, please and thanks! Let me know what you think._


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